What happens at the Magic Kingdom Rope Drop?

[CJLove79]

What's up everybody!!!! I'm going to Disney World with my girl in October and we're staying at the Contemporary Resort. I've read a lot about making sure to be at the entrance of the Magic Kingdom about an hour before at the earliest. What exactly happens at rope drop? Me and my girl are planning to be right at the front if possible so when they open up the lanes, nobody is in front of us & we can jog directly to the Snow White Mine Train. LOL. Will we even need to run like mad people to the Mine Train and other rides? Is there crowd control at all? I want to get as much info about this because we want to get on a good majority of the major rides for the first half of the day, rest up & come back for more using FP+. Is the rope drop in the Magic Kingdom the same with the other 3 theme parks? How long would the wait be on the standby line at the Mine Train or any ride with that amount of popularity?

Our Trip To Disney World  

 

[SDisney90]

What's up everybody!!!! I'm going to Disney World with my girl in October and we're staying at the Contemporary Resort. I've read a lot about making sure to be at the entrance of the Magic Kingdom about an hour before at the earliest. What exactly happens at rope drop? Me and my girl are planning to be right at the front if possible so when they open up the lanes, nobody is in front of us & we can jog directly to the Snow White Mine Train. LOL. Will we even need to run like mad people to the Mine Train and other rides? Is there crowd control at all? I want to get as much info about this because we want to get on a good majority of the major rides for the first half of the day, rest up & come back for more using FP+. Is the rope drop in the Magic Kingdom the same with the other 3 theme parks? How long would the wait be on the standby line at the Mine Train or any ride with that amount of popularity?

Our Trip To Disney World  

Video of the rope drop....

Running to the rides and such IMO just ruins your experience. Nothing like taking your time, soaking it all in and speed walking to the attractions In all seriousness, plan your FP the right way and you two will be perfectly fine. Set a FP the mine train for the afternoon (I'm sure everyone will make a fast dash to Fantasy land for it) and just head your way into Space Mountain, Big Thunder or whatever other ride you please. The wait times for those rides wont be nearly as high.

If I were in your shoes that's what I would do, or you could always get right to the mine train if you're one of the first guests in the park as well. Wait times for a new ride that everyone wants to experience can be upwards of 60, 90, 180+ minutes all depends on the time of day, and how busy the park will be.

-Magic Kingdom has more of a "show" for rope drop. The other 3 parks have audio playing in the background and the gates open up.

-As for crowd control, from my experience going in January (off season mind you) cast members were always at the beginning of each themed land, making sure that no guests are running to their first ride selections. IE we were heading for Space Mountain, first in line (well row) right behind the CM's and it took at least 5 minutes after rope drop to get there. It's all safety precautions and I understand why it's in place.

As I said for me personally, I would get the FP for the 7DMT for the afternoon and hit the other big rides at rope drop( Big thunder, Space mountain, Splash) taking my time is important so I get to actually enjoy the parks rather than rushing around missing the small things that make your trip that much more memorable. Also, if you are one of the first guests in the park you can always make that walk to the mine train hop on at least once, then head to all of the other attractions. Just make sure you do set a fast pass for it again in the afternoon just as a security measure and you'll be all set!

 

[BigRedDad]

You can do one of two things. First, is stand back and watch the opening show. Second, you can rush with the herd to Anna/Elsa and 7DMT. My recommendation is skip 7DMT. It is only about 30-45 seconds, not as enjoyable as Goofy's Barnstormer. If you go early and are deep in the line(45-60 minutes), it helps me. I did all of Fantasyland and Tomorrowland in 3 hours with most rides 2-3 times each.

 

[CJLove79]

Thanks for the tips guys, much appreciated. And thanks for the video SDisney90. About the crowd control, I saw a video on YouTube where the cast members were actually walking the guests to New Fantasy Land through Main St USA. Do they walk you to all the rides? If they're walking past the Mine Train for example, can you just break of from the group and get in the standby line? What's the process basically?

 

[Weather_Lady]

Understand that there are multiple rope drops. You can sprint to a particular "land," but CMs will typically be holding secondary ropes near the entrances to each land holding back the crowd for a couple of extra minutes, directing traffic, (e.g, "Anna/Alsa, head left, Mine Train, head right") and ensuring that it's not total chaos. There will be a few people pushing, shoving and running in flagrant disobedience of the CMs orders, but for the most part, speed-walking to your intended destination in as orderly a fashion as possible will serve you well, especially if you're one of the first people into the park.

That being said, we do what @BigRedDad does: we head to something else (Splash/Big Thunder/Pirates/Jungle/HM, or Buzz/Space Mtn./Dumbo/Mermaid or Belle/Pooh/Pan) and get the headliners in one or two lands out of the way while the heaviest crowds are absorbed into other lines. 7DMT in particular has such a slow loading time that if you're not one of the first couple hundred people in line, you might as well skip it and try again at the very end of the night. (Get in line 5-10 minutes before the park closes: everyone who is in line at closing time will get to ride.)

 

[SDisney90]

Thanks for the tips guys, much appreciated. And thanks for the video SDisney90. About the crowd control, I saw a video on YouTube where the cast members were actually walking the guests to New Fantasy Land through Main St USA. Do they walk you to all the rides? If they're walking past the Mine Train for example, can you just break of from the group and get in the standby line? What's the process basically?

I headed to Tomorrow land and they walked passed the Laugh Floor, Buzz Light year, and Stitches great escape at anytime if we wanted to head into these queues we could. At Space Mountain the CM's eventually just stopped and let everyone roam free. They're more into the big attractions because guests will run like mad men trying to get them. disregarding everyone else.